State Dept. Official Who Searched Clinton's Passport Files Resigns

By ROBERT PEAR,

Published: November 18, 1992

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17—
A State Department official who carried out the two-day search of passport files for information about Gov. Bill Clinton said today that he had resigned, just 48 hours before Federal investigators are expected to issue a report criticizing the search.

The official, Steven M. Moheban, was a top aide to Elizabeth M. Tamposi, the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs who was dismissed last week by President Bush for her role in the search of files on Mr. Clinton, his mother, Virginia Kelley, and Ross Perot, the independent Presidential candidate.

"I resigned Monday," said Mr. Moheban, a 30-year-old native of Nashua, N.H., Ms. Tamposi's hometown. "I no longer work for the State Department."

Mr. Moheban said he had not been asked to resign but had stepped down voluntarily to "pursue business opportunities in the private sector." Report Is Awaited

He was reluctant to give details about his role in the file search, saying he wanted to wait for a report from the inspector general of the State Department. But the timing of his resignation suggested that he was accepting some responsibility for the search and the way it was conducted.

The inspector general, Sherman M. Funk, and the Acting Secretary of State, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, plan to issue the report on the investigation on Wednesday. Among those it is expected to criticize are Ms. Tamposi and Mr. Moheban, a political appointee who had served as her special assistant since July 1990.

Ms. Tamposi has said that White House officials encouraged the search of Mr. Clinton's records and that her superiors approved it. The inspector general has interviewed White House officials. But it is not clear whether he will assign any responsibility for the search to senior officials at the White House and the State Department, or will merely focus on Ms. Tamposi and lower-ranking employees.

Officials following the investigation said Mr. Funk's report would probably not accuse or absolve anyone outside the State Department. In addition, they predicted, Mr. Funk will probably conclude that officials made contradictory statements to him and that he has no way to resolve some of them.

Ms. Tamposi, a 37-year-old former State Representative in New Hampshire, got her job at the State Department on the recommendation of John H. Sununu, a former Governor of New Hampshire who was President Bush's first chief of staff and was often blamed for many of Mr. Bush's political troubles.

State Department officials say they searched Mr. Clinton's passport file in response to requests filed by several news organizations under the Freedom of Information Act. The department acknowledges that it violated its own regulations by accelerating the search so it would be completed before Election Day.

Mr. Moheban confirmed that he went to a National Archives warehouse in suburban Maryland on Sept. 30 and on Oct. 1 to look for Mr. Clinton's records. Mr. Moheban carried out the search with two career employees of the State Department.

"I went out to the records center to respond to the F.O.I.A. requests," Mr. Moheban said. "I personally was asked by Ms. Tamposi to get involved." Mr. Moheban said his responsibility was to make sure the two Civil Service employees followed proper procedure in performing the search.

Ms. Tamposi says she was told by another State Department official on Sept. 28 that the White House wanted the files checked for negative information on Mr. Clinton. Ms. Tamposi has told associates that she believes the Administration is trying to make her a scapegoat in the incident. Links in Business Deals

Mr. Moheban's family has been involved in many real estate deals with the Tamposi family in New Hampshire. Maurice L. Arel, a former Mayor of Nashua, said Mr. Moheban had worked for the Tamposi family's real estate business. Ms. Tamposi and her family have raised large amounts of money for President Bush, Mr. Sununu and other Republicans.

In a financial disclosure statement filed with the Federal Government in 1989, Ms. Tamposi reported that she had an investment in a business called Moheban Enterprises. She estimated the value of her interest in the underlying assets at $215,000 to $550,000.

Ms. Tamposi's 1990 disclosure form shows that her family investment company, of which she is a partial owner, wrote off a debt that it was owed by Moheban Enterprises. There is no indication of the amount of the loan, which was deemed uncollectible because of the real estate slump in New England.

On Oct. 1, Ms. Tamposi concluded that someone had apparently tampered with Mr. Clinton's passport file, and she referred the matter to Mr. Funk, who called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The bureau concluded on Oct. 9 that there had been no tampering.

Mr. Funk is in the awkward position of having to investigate his own role in the State Department's handling of Mr. Clinton's passport records. Some Democrats in Congress have asserted that the suggestion of tampering was trumped up to create an impression that there was politically damaging information about Mr. Clinton in his file and that someone had removed it.

State Department officials said Ms. Tamposi and Mr. Moheban were looking for documents that would show whether Mr. Clinton had ever considered renouncing United States citizenship or becoming a citizen of another country to avoid military service in Vietnam. No such information on Mr. Clinton was found.

In this year's Presidential election, the Bush-Quayle campaign portrayed Mr. Clinton as a draft dodger, criticized him for taking part in demonstrations against the Vietnam War and suggested that a 1969 trip to Moscow by Mr. Clinton raised doubts about his patriotism and his character.

In the 1950's and 1960's, the State Department's passport office kept a computerized file on more than 243,000 Americans who were suspected of being "subversives" or who might fail to "reflect credit" on the nation abroad.

The existence of the file was not disclosed until 1971, after Mr. Clinton returned to the United States.

Ms. Tamposi told Federal investigators that the search for Mr. Clinton's file had been cleared in advance by a State Department lawyer, William B. Wharton. But in an interview this week, Mr. Wharton said that no one asked for his advice before the search.